Ideology Trumps Accomplishment as 112th Congress Pursues Futile Bills

The debilitating debt ceiling debate is par for the course -- instead of compromising, House Republicans keep pushing bills they know can't become law

House Republicans have been known to sneer at government red tape. Before becoming speaker of the House, Ohio's John Boehner dismissed Obama's health-care overhaul bill as "1,990 pages of bureaucracy." But now that the GOP holds the majority in the House and therefore sets the schedule, House Republicans have been embracing a lot of pointless busy work and ideological signal-sending.

If the current House continues with this trend it will have produced a mere 48 laws by the end of the chamber's full term.

Quick math: The last three Houses have by this time in their tenure produced an average of 76 laws each.

But when House Republicans are actually in session, it's not exactly like they're doing nothing. They've made a point of passing bills that "send a message." Over and over, they've brought legislation to the floor that was doomed to die in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Why? To put taxpayer money where Republican congresspersons' mouths (and votes) are. Yes, the House Republicans of 112th Congress are having a love affair with the symbolic vote.

Below you'll find a list compiled by The Atlantic of the go-nowhere votes House Republicans have made. On the list are some repeat GOP bogeymen. The House majority has voted to defund Planned Parenthood, EPA and NPR multiple times -- in riders, in amendments, in emergency bills -- none to ever become law. They've also voted at least twice to override President Obama's moratorium on drilling in the Gulf. And of course they've voted several times to defund and block the dreaded "Obamacare."

Call it grand standing, posturing, or GOPeacocking -- in the 112th Congress it's the new normal.

The following are bills the House of the 112th Congress has passed even though the bill will die in the Senate or face a presidential veto: